# Restoring a Meerschaum Pipe



## CWL (Mar 25, 2010)

I just purchased a meer coloring bowl (thanks keenween!) and am excited to use it on a few basic-shaped estate Meers that I have.

These don't have much color to them yet, but they do have some cake and the bowl rims are scorched. I would really like to remove as much of this as possible and would like any help you can provide. I know that alcohol is recommended to soften the carbon, but wouldn't this also remove a lot of the beeswax inthe meer? I've even thought about using ultra high grit emery papers (1000, 2000, 4000 grit) to take the top off the rim. Also, can one add beeswax back to the Meer through a surface application -as opposed to a complete re-dip into a melted tub?

Any advice?


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## Yamaha53 (May 22, 2010)

I use the Micro Mesh wood finishing papers on my meers. I use the 3200 up to 12000 depending on how much I am wanting to remove and how smooth Im trying to get it. I would sand anything off or out your trying to remove. Sand the cake out as thin as you can without getting into the meer. You do want a thin layer of carbon.
I do not use alcohol or water, period. 
When I re apply beeswax, I melt my wax, heat the meer with a heat gun and apply it extremely thin with a fine hair art brush. Once applied I use the heat gun to even out the wax and let it cool. I finish it up by hand polishing with as soft a cotton cloth as I can find. Has always worked for me.


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## dmkerr (Oct 27, 2008)

If you're planning to rewax (and Yamaha's rewaxing method is what I use as well), it's perfectly ok to clean up a scorched rim with alcohol. I use Everclear. Along with the carbon from the scorch, it'll remove any wax it comes in contact with, so I usually wrap the pipe with an old T-shirt, exposing only the top of the bowl. I also use Everclear to clean out the shanks. Alcohol does not hurt the stone, and wax can (and should!) be reapplied regularly.

I sand out the cake in estate pipes but with new pipes I usually don't allow cake to form at all. I just wipe out the inside of the bowl with a paper towel after each smoke. That said, I'm still in the process of trying to prove or disprove the old saying that because carbon cake expands and contracts at a different rate than the meer, too much cake can crack a meer pipe. I have an old beat up ugly SMS that has a carbon cake about the same thickness as that of a broken in briar. I smoke it outside in the summer while I'm working in the yard and in the winter while I'm shoveling snow. I bring it inside from sub-zero temps while its still hot from smoking. Over 3 years it has failed to crack. It isn't coloring worth a damn but it still smokes perfectly. Not recommended for your finer meers but so far the old adage fails to hold.


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